Jake Vinson

Sure, we've chronicled horrible methods of storing data in XML, but what about when you want to retrieve said data? If you're into .NET, you're probably thinking of something in the System.Xml namespace. If you're a Ruby developer, you're probably thinking of REXML. If you're using PHP, the XML Parser extension. If you're a COBOL programmer, then you're probably praying for death.

Originally posted to the Sidebar by "jetcitywoman"...

When Michelle M. started her new job, she feared the worst, but hoped for the best. She'd be maintaing an app that had been around since the 1980s and made an impressive tour of technologies — from Clipper to VB to VB.NET and finally to C#. So I guess she didn't so much fear the worst as expect the worst.

Thanks to a generous anonymous donation, Hudson High (as we'll call it) was finally able to trebuchet themselves into the 21st century. In addition to buying new computers for the teachers and staff, they found a contractor that would build them the ultimate system to maintain every function in the school, top to bottom. After a few months the system was built and deployed.

Lyle was displeased. Despite all he had going for him — being the most handsome guy in the office, the smartest guy on the team, having the best all-terrain tires throughout the whole department, and trouncing the competition in a recent laser tag game, his team didn't seem to work well together.

To think, if Ash had spent infinity hours playing the original EverQuest instead of Warcraft, Ash would be close to level 25 by now.

Originally posted to the sidebar by "compaqdrew"...

"At my workplace, we have a wiki for the 'WLC' — the Worst Line Competition," Kirk writes. "We post lines of code that the lead developers have decided were good additions to the applications that we port. Here is one of the better ones:"

If there's one thing that the new development manager has, it's tenacity. Joshua has been maintaining his company's overly complex software for a while now, and found Dave's eagerness and dedication to learn admirable.

Are You Cool, Man? (from Scott) The interview I was conducting was going great — the candidate answered technical questions well and was honest when he didn't know the answer. I'd decided that he would make the short list for an offer and began wrapping up the interview.

A. T. registered early, saving a cool -$1,500.00.

Originally posted by "Da' Man"...

Firefox Deletes Printers! from Arthur

"While updating on some delightfully unorganized PHP code (no indentation at all, split over hundreds of randomly named files, many included dozens of times), I kept running across comparisons such as:

It was the calm before the storm. Brokers were sitting at their desks in silence, watching the clock. The market was going to open in minutes, and huge volume orders would start pouring in. The developers working for the firm – a mid-size proprietary trading outfit on Wall Street – were already busy; an order from the previous day should’ve expired automatically, but didn’t. It was manually fixed moments after it was discovered.

John B. saw some strange code that prompted him to investigate.